NEWS

The Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO) joined the Virtual Institute today, expanding the Vi think tank membership to 18 institutions from 11 countries.

Established in 1956, IMEMO is the largest non-profit institute for political and economic analysis and research in Eastern Europe, counting with 318 researchers on its staff. The institute conducts multidisciplinary research on the world economy and international political and security issues, and provides strategic policy advice to the government, the parliament, and companies.

Among IMEMO's research areas are long-term global development forecasts; Eurasian regional integration; regional and global energy markets; global trends in innovations; economic, social and political processes (including free trade zones) in various regions of the world, in particular in Asia and the Pacific and North America; and international migration and global social shifts.

In the area of education, IMEMO runs graduate and post-graduate programmes in economics, political science and international relations on its own, and in partnership with several Russian universities. It also offers seminars for young researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences. IMEMO’s staff frequently holds lectures at MGIMO, the Lomonosov Moscow State University and other Russian universities.

The cooperation between IMEMO and the Vi will be coordinated by IMEMO's deputy director, Alexey Kuznetsov. Holder of a PhD in economics, his research focuses on foreign direct investment; transnationalization and globalization; Russian trade relations with the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union; European economic integration; and long-term global economic forecasts.

He will receive support from his colleague Sergey Lukonin, head of the section for Chinese economics and politics studies. His research interests include the Chinese economy, Asia-Pacific trade agreements, trade and investment relations between Russia and the Asia-Pacific region, the Russian Far East, and long-term global economic forecasts.

IMEMO has successful partnerships with think tanks in North America, Western Europe, the CIS and East Asia. Through its Vi membership, the institute aims to further expand its international cooperation, in particular with South Asia, Africa and Latin America. This would include possibilities for think tanks from developing countries (e.g. Bangladesh and Latin American states) to participate in conferences, young scholars’ schools, and research projects with participation of leading Russian experts in the field of international development and trade.